American
consumers are eager to celebrate Easter with their family and friends,
with the tTotal holiday spending estimated to reach $14.37 billion, according
to NRF’s 2007 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. This year,
shoppers who are planning to celebrate Easter (79.5%) are expected to
spend an average of $135.07, up 11% from last year’s $121.72 per
person.

Consumers in five of the world's leading
economies believe business ethics have worsened in the past five years
and are turning to "ethical consumerism" to make companies
more accountable, according to a study by GfK NOP, seen exclusively by
the Financial Times.

In
2006 a record-breaking 182,000 new consumer packaged goods (CPG) products
were introduced globally in stores, with key booming areas focusing on
mind, body, and general good health, according
to the Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD).

January
retail sales were unchanged at $370.4 billion after a 1.2% gain in
December, the Commerce Department reported.
Retail sales excluding autos and gasoline rose 0.5% in January compared to
1% rise in December.

Consumers
spent $3.01 trillion with the top 250 retailers in the world between July
1, 2005, and June 30, 2006, an increase of 6% over the same period a year
ago, according to "The Global Powers of Retailing 2007" report
from Deloitte and STORES magazine.

The top 10
most competitive retailers in 2007 have generated a return on invested
capital (ROIC) of 15.43%, three times higher than other retailers at
5.03% since 2001, according to a study conducted for the NRF Foundation by the Kanbay
Research Institute (KRI).

One
reason for the rise in popularity of gift cards: "The stigma of the
gift card being a thoughtless gift is gone," said NRF spokesman Scott
Krugman. "People love getting them." (IBD report).
One advantage of gift cards to retailers is that they prolong the holiday
shopping season well past Christmas.

Target
will approach $100 billion in sales in 2010, nearly doubling its current
size, according
to management consulting and market research firm Retail Forward report
"Target 2010: Growth and Outlook". Wal-Mart
is expected to reach $500 billion in sales by 2010.

The nation's retailers had a strong start to the holiday shopping
season, as sales rose 6% to $8.96 billion on Balck Friday, compared to
the same day a year ago, according
to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks total sales at more than 45,000
mall-based retail outlets. However Wal-Mart sales lagged as it expects
to report same-store sales in November below its already lackluster
forecast.